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Work against racism
Racism, in all its forms, is unacceptable.
Racism, and racial discrimination, has a profound impact on mental health.
For safe and effective mental health care for all, every effort must be taken to combat racism.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) acknowledges its responsibility to work to end racism in all its forms.
Our commitments
The RANZCP has committed to addressing racism within psychiatry and communities in our Public Statement: combatting racism in psychiatry.
As part of our commitment to anti-racism work the RANZCP created the Racism Awareness Steering Group (RASG). The RASG is made up of people with professional and lived and living experience of racism and the health system.
This Group is working to identify the areas that are of the highest priority to take action to ensure culturally safe care and will provide a report and series of recommendations to Board in 2025.
Racism Awareness Steering Group members
Astha Tomar
Alasdair Vance
Daud Saeed
Hamza Vayani
Ajay Velayudhan
Helena Niu
Ilana Nayman
Laura Hammersley
Lyndy Matthews
Matira Taikato
Raju Lakshmana
Saddichha Sahoo
Samantha Loi
Selamawit Mulholland
Progress
The RASG has taken a number of steps to progress the RANZPs anti-racism work;
- Identification of key priorities for RANZCP action and advocacy (complete),
- Develop internal Evidence Brief to evaluate the prevalence, experiences and impact of racism in psychiatry and mental health (complete),
- Complete a review of current RANZCP education and training regarding cultural safety and anti-racism (complete),
- Review and evaluate publicly facing resources and statements from the RANZCP on racism, racial discrimination and key priority groups and areas (complete and ongoing),
- Develop interim resources for members to address key areas of misunderstanding, misinformation or disengagement regarding anti-racism (ongoing),
- Provide a symposium at Congress 2024 regarding the RANZCP anti-racism work (complete - 2024 Congress book of abstracts [PDF; 749KB])
- Develop a webinar for members regarding racism and mental health (complete),
- Link RASG outcomes with other RANZCP initiatives (complete and ongoing),
- Develop data and evidence gathering measures of racism within psychiatry (complete and ongoing),
- Identify key stakeholders and external programs and procedures for RANZCP engagement (complete and ongoing),
- Record and distribute a podcast on racism and mental health impacts to membership (ongoing),
- Provide a symposium at Congress 2025 (ongoing),
- Provide a report on RANZCP anti-racism actions and recommendations to Board in 2025 (ongoing).
Highlighted resources
The RANZCP is developing further resources for our members and the public to highlight the importance of anti-racism work in mental health.
These resources will be published here when finalised.
For any questions about the RANZCP anti-racism work or the Racism Awareness Steering Group please contact policy@ranzcp.org
Related Documents
- Position Statement 42: Acknowledging the Stolen Generations and Apology for the role played by psychiatrists in the Stolen Generations
- Position Statement 50: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health workers
- Position Statement 68: Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution
- Position Statement 96: The relevance of religion and spirituality to psychiatric practice
- Position Statement 104: Whānau Ora
- Position Statement 105: Cultural Safety
- Position Statement 107: Recognising the significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi
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